Powder Burns – Contactmusic.com

Recorded in New Orleans a few months after Hurricane Katrina, generators standing by to supply electricity, and in Milan, Powder Burns is former Afghan Whigs lead man Greg Dulli’s finest work in a decade. The Twilight Singers’ fourth album (if you include the insipid covers album), it updates their 80s rock sound (think Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Doves, mixed with some Stone Roses funk), ably supported by guests such as Ani DiFranco, and Joseph Arthur, but the focus rarely strays from Dulli’s singer-songwriting, melodramatic vocals and thick, dense slowcore rock. There is an awful lot going on, with anthemic choruses, and nods to the Beatles as likely to appear as classic metal guitar solos. The Twilight Singers seem destined to spend time as a critical favourite, and are as unlikely to break through with this disc as with anything Dulli has ever done – there is no leeway given for a casual listener on Powder Burns, no let-up, no easily accessible material. Some people just seem to prefer it that way.